Ben Ainslie fails to get it right in the final

Ben Ainslie and Team Origin lose out to MRT in the final of the Australia Cup 2-0

23-year-old Perth sailor Torvar Mirsky and his MRT team outsailed Olympic Gold Medallists Ben Ainslie and Iain Percy and the TeamOrigin crew in the final of the 2009 Sunseeker Australia Cup. The scoreline was 2-0.

The final was the best of three races. Mirsky was unstoppable in the first match and sailed away from the ISAF Sailor of the Year keeping control on the right and sailing to a clean win. The second race was nearly over for TeamOrigin before it began. As the two Bakewell-White 36’s spun around the Media-Broadcast boat at anchor, abeam of the start boat, Ainslie came too close to the bow, hooked on the chain and spun the big powerboat, as the angle widened the chain slid free of the keel and they were free. A rare grin from the focused British skipper.

Mirsky lead across the start line, but Ainslie was on the right and controlled the beat. However, Mirsky was bow to stern at the top mark. Then Ainslie was penalised for failing to keep clear, and the final was decided.

“There are some really famous guys here today we’ve knocked off and we are really pinching ourselves. We will go into the Monsoon Cup with a lot of confidence,” said Mirsky. “If we have the same result in the Monsoon Cup that we had here, with us winning and Adam and his BlackMatch team coming fourth, we will win the 2009 World Championship.”

Ben Ainslie added: “It’s been a great regatta; we’ve really enjoyed sailing up here in Perth Water, a good course. We did not get it right in the final. Torvar and his boys were on the hot lines and we were not and that was it.”

“Fantastic conditions, much better than we’d be getting in the UK right now, of course that applies most of the time, not all of the time, and we plan to be back here again next year.”

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